By George Mills. Photo: HMP Berwyn, Wrexham
PRISONER SOLIDARITY NETWORK: “THIS ATTACK COMES LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AFTER RHODRI STEPPED FORWARD TO SPEAK PUBLICLY ABOUT DISCRIMINATION, RACISM, AND THE DENIAL OF LANGUAGE RIGHTS AT THE PRISON.”
PRISONER RHODRI AB EILIAN HAD SAID: “WE ARE BEING SEGREGATED HERE. PEOPLE GET IEP WARNINGS FOR SPEAKING WELSH. PEOPLE HAVE TO WAIT A MONTH TO GET LETTERS IN WELSH.”
A PREVIOUS WATCHDOG REPORT HAS ALREADY HIGHLIGHTED ISSUES FACING NON-ENGLISH SPEAKERS AND BLACK, ASIAN AND ETHNIC MINORITY INMATES WITHIN THE NEW CAT C PRISON NEAR WREXHAM.
CAMPAIGNERS SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF THE PRISONER, RHODRI AB EILIAN, SAY HE HAS SINCE BEEN MOVED TO ANOTHER WING DURING A FIREBREAK LOCKDOWN AND HAS SUBSEQUENTLY STARTED DISPLAYING SYMPTOMS OF COVID.
An inmate has been assaulted by guards at HMP Berwyn following comments he made to Undod and the Prisoner Solidarity Network (PSN) about the abuses and segregation faced by Welsh speaking inmates in the prison.
Campaigners said that Rhodri ab Eilian, a current inmate at the category C super-prison in Wrexham, was assaulted by prison officers on February 10th, in which he was subjected to excessive force during restraint.
Rhodri allegedly suffered bruising and shooting pains through his arm and shoulder due to the incident.
In a statement released by the PSN they said: “This attack comes less than two weeks after Rhodri stepped forward to speak publicly about discrimination, racism, and the denial of language rights at the prison.”
“Both Rhodri and the PSN see this assault as a clear example of retaliatory violence and call on everyone to mobilise urgently in Rhodri’s defence.”
“Following [the incident], one of the staff involved threatened further violence, telling another prisoner he was going to ‘punch his little head in.’ Rhodri knew the risks and still did what’s right. It’s our responsibility now to defend him.”
This news comes following the start of a campaign by Undod and PSN to stop the persecution of Welsh language speakers at HMP Berwyn.
The PSN has said multiple sources from within the prison report Welsh language speaking inmates are being deliberately segregated from each other, receiving IEP (Incentive and Earned Privileges) warnings for speaking their own language, as well as waiting over a month to receive their Welsh language mail.
Rhodri told PSN and Undod before the attack: “We are being segregated here. People get IEP warnings for speaking Welsh. People have to wait a month to get letters in Welsh. The prison staff are racist towards Welsh speakers and Black people.”
“They always question why I speak Welsh. If I speak Welsh with someone, they hang around like a fruit fly and discourage you from speaking Welsh. HMP Stoke Heath in Shropshire is more accommodating to Welsh speakers than HMP Berwyn.”
Campaigners have also claimed that Welsh speaking inmates had also been fired from jobs in the prison for speaking Welsh and denied interpreters at disciplinary hearings, as well as a multitude of threats and sanctions from guards.
Increase in violence and self-harm
The prison came under public scrutiny in 2019 when an Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) report outlined lack of representation for non-English speakers and people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities within HMP Berwyn.
The IMB report mentioned that the prison administration was recruiting almost solely white, English-speaking staff: “(The board) needs to do more to recruit members from minority groups. This includes individuals from black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities and individuals whose first language is not English.”
“Currently the board does not have any representatives from the BAME community and has one member who has a first language that is not English (in this case Welsh)”.
But the lack of diversity amongst staff and board members at HMP Berwyn cannot itself explain the discrimination faced by minorities within the prison, with many groups such as Black Lives Matter pointing the finger at the criminal justice system as a whole.
There has been a list of issues that have arisen in the facility since its opening in 2017, when HMP Berwyn was supposed to serve as a flagship model for a rehabilitative approach to prison.
The role of HMP Berwyn’s governor has changed hands since its founding, with the former governor and project leader, Russ Trent, having been suspended under investigation in August 2018 for unspecified allegations and remained on leave until January the next year.
The mantle was passed to Nick Leader in early 2019. Leader was exposed in 2011 for manipulating prison transfers to evade scrutiny during inspections. His actions lead to tragic the death by suicide of Christopher Wardally in 2009.
Since Leader was appointed to his role at HMP Berwyn, the prison has seen the highest increase in violence and self-harm in the entire Welsh prison estate.
The annual IMB report for 2019-2020 shows some damning statistics on the levels of self-harm and violence at the prison: “There were 406 assaults on prisoners (48 of which were classed as serious) and 244 assaults on staff (26 of which were classed as serious) between March 2019 and February 2020.”
“In addition, five sexual assaults were recorded. Additionally, there were 1,006 recorded incidents of self-harm and 864 assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) documents registered during the reporting year”.
This report continued: “It is noted that prisoners in Berwyn are the most numerous users of the Samaritans telephone line in the UK”.
Prisoners experiencing ‘unprecedented restrictions’
An outbreak of Coronavirus was reported at the prison in June, with 60 staff and inmates contracting the virus. Inmates were still sharing accommodation despite vacant cells being available, and staff were also exposed breaking social distancing rules whilst travelling to work.
Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville-Roberts raised concerns about the outbreak at HMP Berwyn: “These are shocking revelations that show a deeply dangerous lack of action to protect those that work in prisons as well as inmates. Mega prisons like HMP Berwyn offer near perfect conditions for an outbreak”.
A spokesperson for Undod said: “At a time when prisoners are experiencing unprecedented restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and an even more acute mental health crisis in prisons as a result, being stopped from communicating freely in their native language is a further exacerbating factor for Welsh speakers and a violation of their human rights”.
A report showed that in 2018 and 2019, 543 people were released from Welsh prisons without a fixed address to return to, essentially throwing them onto the street, and of this number, 19 were released from Berwyn with nowhere to go.
Wales as a whole has the highest rate of imprisonment in western Europe, with 154 prisoners per 100,000 of the population.
The PSN have said they are committed to adding pressure onto the administration at HMP Berwyn to solve the multitude of issues outlined. The conditions for prisoners at HMP Berwyn and across the Welsh prison estate have facilitated a mental health endemic within.
The PSN has since released information that Rhodri has been moved to a secure wing of the prison but has started to show signs of contracting coronavirus.
Officials at HMP Berwyn have been contacted for comment.
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